Faces in the Crowd

Matthew Brown IDALOU, TEXAS > Track and Field Brown, 30, a football and track and field coach at Idalou High, won a gold medal in the discus (a meet-record 154'9") and a bronze in combined-class shot put at the Parapan American Games. A left-leg above-the-knee amputee, he was first in the discus and second in the shot put at the U.S. nationals.

Brittney Steinbruch WYCKOFF, N.J. > Soccer Steinbruch, a freshman forward at Miami, scored a pair of game-winning goals and added an assist as the Hurricanes beat N.C. State and North Carolina. She is tied for fourth nationally in goals with 12 and was named the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's player of the week.

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Jameel Owens MUSKOGEE, OKLA. > Football Jameel, a senior wide receiver at Muskogee High, caught five passes for 221 yards and touchdown passes of 91 and 99 yards in a 43--6 win over Tahlequah. The No. 47 recruit in the SI/Takkle.com Top 100, he has 40 receptions for 724 yards and seven TDs this season.

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Aly Boulis LINCOLN, R.I. > Field Hockey Boulis, a senior forward at Stonehill College, was named Northeast 10 player of the week for the second time after scoring twice in wins over Southern Connecticut and Franklin Pierce. The victories were her fourth and fifth multigoal games this season. She is tied for sixth in goals in Division II with 13.

Pat Sovacool LAKEWOOD, OHIO > Cross-country Sovacool, a junior at Miami (Ohio), won races in three successive meets: the George Mason Invitational, the Great American Legends Race at Purdue and the Dayton Flyer 5K Challenge (in a meet-record 15:02). He is a two-time Mid-American Conference runner of the week.

Jesika Torres SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF. > Taekwondo Torres, a sophomore at American Sports University, won gold in the bantam division at the National Collegiate Championships, silver at the World University Games and bronze at the U.S. senior nationals. The National Collegiate Taekwondo Association named her outstanding female athlete of the year as a freshman.

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Before he became the premier postseason performer of his generation, the Patriots icon was a middling college quarterback who invited skepticism, even scorn, from fans and his coaches. That was all—and that was everything